The French Colony of Niger (French:
Colonie du Niger) was a French Colonial possession covering much of the
territory of the modern West African state of Niger, as well as portions of
Mali, Burkina Faso and Chad. It existed in various forms from 1900 to 1960,
but was titled the Colonie du Niger only from 1922 to 1958.
On 13 October 1922 the civilian Colony of Niger took control of most of
southern and western areas, with a Lieutenant governor reporting to the
Governor General of French West Africa.
On 31 December 1946 the Military Territories of N'Guigmi and Agadez were
ceded to Niger Colony, leaving only Bilma Cercle as the last Military run
section of modern Niger. This area in the far north east only came under
French civilian administration in 1956.

In 1947, French Upper Volta was reconstituted, and the Cercles of Dori and
Fada N'Gourma ceded to Upper Volta Colony. While there were minor border
changes after 1947, the modern borders of Niger were roughly established
with this change.
Following the 1956 Loi Cadre, rudiments of internal rule were created with
the Territorial Assembly of Niger elected by popular vote, but holding only
advisory and administrative powers. In 1958 the French Union succeed the
French Community On 25 August 1958, the Lieutenant Governor became High
Commissioner of Niger, but remained Head of State of a quasi-independent
state which controlled some purely internal administration.

The Constitution of 25 February 1959 was created by and then ratified vote
of the Constituent Assembly of Niger, a body created for this purpose from
the elected Territorial Assembly of Niger in December 1958. On 12 March 1959
the Constituent Assembly became the Legislative Assembly of Niger, with the
head of government, Hamani Diori, retaining the title of President of the
Council. Nominal executive powers were vested in the Assembly. with the
constitution establishing elements, such as the Flag of Niger, the National
anthem of Niger and the Coat of Arms of Niger, along with language on naming
of political bodies, rights and powers which have been retained in
subsequent texts.

French Commandants were put
in place in Niger from 23 Jul 1900 to 24 Feb 1913, then Commissioners till
26 Dec 1922 and then Lieutenant governors till 25th Aug 1958.

Libya claims about 25,000 sq km in a currently
dormant dispute in the Tommo region; much of Benin-Niger boundary, including
tripoint with Nigeria, remains undemocratic; only Nigeria and Cameroon have
heeded the Lake Chad Commission's admonition to ratify the delimitation
treaty which also includes the Chad-Niger and Niger-Nigeria boundaries.

Maradi.Gobir is
an ancient Hausa state, centered in what is now Maradi province of Niger
since fl. c. 1100 CE. It was from the area of Gobir that the Fulani
Jihad erupted, evicted from the Katsina state in Nigeria, creating the
Fulani states in northern and central Nigeria during the 19th century
They established Fulani dynasty with title: Sarkin Katsina and ruled
from 1807 - fl.1960's. At the end of the 18th century, a Muslim cleric
of Fulani origin, Usman dan Fodio, established a religious training
center in Gobir with the initial support of the Hausa King. Alarmed,
however, by the schools growing autonomy and influence, the King
attempted to rein it in, with the result that Usman resisted and
ultimately declared Jihad, Holy War, on the Hausa. Ceding political and
military control of the new empire to his two sons, Muhammad Bello at
Sokoto and Abdullah at Gwandu. Usman created a puritanistic Muslim
presence in the central Niger River basin. Gobir partitioned between
France and Great Britain in 1900. The French portion is included in the
Republic of Niger in 1960.

Songhay Empire:
The Songhay empire grew out of a polity that was formed in the Dendi
region of present-day Niger. This polity flourished in present-day Mali
and replaced the Mali empire as the major West Sudanese power; its
capital was Gao. After being vanquished by incursions from Morocco, the
Songhay state withdrew to its original location in the Dendi region, and
is thenceforth often referred to as Dendi; but there is a continuity of
rule, symbolized by continuing to use the Songhay name and the royal
style askya. In addition to this remnant Songhay state, this record
contains a small group of break-off polities. consists of

Following the Algerian War and the collapse of the French Fourth Republic,
the colonies of the French Union became fully independent in 1960. Niger
ratified its first fully independent constitution on 08 November 1960 and
Jean Colombani stepped down as High Commissioner on 10 November 1960.

Djibo Bakary

................................20
May 1957 - 10 Oct 1958

Vice president of the
Government Council to 26 Jul 1958, then president of the Government Council.

Following the military coup on February 18, 2010,
he became head of the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy, and
thus de facto leader of Niger. He has suspended Niger's constitution and
dissolved all state institutions. It has placed President Mamadou Tandja in
captivity at a military barracks. His military government has announced it
intends to make Niger a model of democracy and good governance.

President

Mahamadou Issoufou...............................07
Apr 2011 - date

The West
African CFA Franc (ISO 4217 code: XOF) is the currency of eight independent
states spanning over 1,350,000 square miles (3,500,000 km2) in West Africa:
Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Sénégal and
Togo. These eight countries form the West African Economic and Monetary
Union (WAEMU), whose common central bank is the Central Bank of West African
States (BCEAO). The acroynym CFA stands for Communauté financière d'Afrique
("Financial Community of Africa"). The currency is issued by the BCEAO (Banque
Centrale des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest, "Central Bank of the West
African States"), located in Dakar, Senegal, for the members of the UEMOA
(Union Économique et Monétaire Ouest Africaine, "West African Economic and
Monetary Union"). The Franc is nominally subdivided into 100 centimes but no
centime denominations have been issued. The catologues list these coins
under “West African States”.
The CFA Franc was introduced to the French colonies in west Africa in 1945,
replacing the French West African Franc. The west African colonies and
territories using the CFA Franc were Côte d'Ivoire (formerly known as Ivory
Coast), Dahomey (now Benin), French Sudan (now Mali), Mauritania, Niger,
Sénégal, Togo and Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso). The currency continued in
use when these colonies gained their independence, except in Mali (formerly
French Sudan), which replaced at par the CFA franc with its own franc in
1961. In 1973, Mauritania replaced the CFA franc with the ouguiya at a rate
of 1 ouguiya = 5 francs. Mali readopted the CFA franc in 1984, at a rate of
1 CFA franc = 2 Malian francs. The former Portuguese colony of Guinea-Bissau
adopted the CFA franc in 1994, replacing the Guinea Bissau peso at a rate of
1 CFA franc = 65 pesos.

The CFA franc,
in general is a currency used in fourteen countries: twelve formerly
French-ruled African countries, as well as in Guinea-Bissau (a former
Portuguese colony) and in Equatorial Guinea (a former Spanish colony). The
ISO currency codes are XAF for the Central African CFA franc and XOF for the
West African CFA franc. It has a fixed exchange rate to the euro: 100 CFA
francs = 1 French (nouveau) franc = 0.152449 euro; or 1 euro = 655.957 CFA
francs. Although Central African CFA francs and West African CFA francs have
the same monetary value against other currencies, West African CFA coins and
banknotes are not accepted in countries using Central African CFA francs,
and vice versa.

Despite Niger
using West CFA Francs in general daily transactions, it has also produced
some of it's own commemorative coins as shown below.